Push to talk: instant messaging for voice

In today's San Jose Merc, Mike Langberg looks at the hot new thing in telecom: Push-to-talk service, a sort of instant messaging for voice. This could be a potent weapon in Buzz's hands.

A television network with a PC at its heart

NY Times: An improvised television network is reaching students over the Internet.

Small webcasters sue RIAA

CNET News.com: A group of Webcasters has filed a suit against the Recording Industry Association of America, alleging that the association tried to push independent music stations offline. Thanks to IWantMedia for the pointer.

The BBC's digital revelation

Guardian UK: The BBC's director-general announced plans this week to embrace Napster-style file sharing to make its archives free for license payers.

Pombo won't support inquiry on missing weapons in Iraq

In response to a recent letter I sent to my alleged congressional "representative," Richard Pombo, asking for an independent inquiry into the missing weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Pombo takes the sleight-of-hand position that just because we haven't found them doesn't mean they weren't there. Here's his full email response:

Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns regarding the search for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) in Iraq. I appreciate hearing from you and having the benefit of your views.

As you may be aware, the House Intelligence Committee is investigating the quality of intelligence that was received prior to the war in Iraq. Congress is exercising its oversight authority and has set in place procedures to review comprehensively, and on a bipartisan basis, the intelligence surrounding Iraq prior to the outbreak of war. This will take account of any dissident views on the Iraqi threat within the intelligence community.

The U.S. armed forces are still trying to pacify sectors of Iraq and to deal with daily attacks on U.S. soldiers west and north of Baghdad. People who have lived in a police state with no freedom of speech are unlikely to volunteer information until stability and security are achieved in Iraq.

All the evidence suggests that Saddam Hussein was indeed developing WMD. Those who believe Iraq did not possess WMD should ask themselves some important questions about Iraq's action leading up to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

If Hussein did not have a WMD program, why did he kick out U.N. weapons inspectors when they requested access to the presidential palaces and other suspect sites in Iraq in 1998 - in direct violation of the cease-fire conditions Iraq had accepted under United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 of 1991?

If Hussein did not have a WMD program, why didn't he comply with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441 to allow U.N. weapons inspectors to have unfettered access to all sites in Iraq, thus providing him the opportunity to show the world he did not possess WMD? Instead of cooperating, Saddam Hussein continued to hide information from the inspectors and refused to allow Iraqi scientists to be interviewed.

If Hussein did not have WMD, why did U.S. troops find large amounts of biological and chemical protective gear and antidotes (such as atropine syringes) in Iraqi army bunkers?

Progress is already being made in the search for weapons of mass destruction. On May 9, 2003, Coalition forces found an Iraqi mobile biological weapons production facility. While no traces of biological weapons have been found in the trailer, it is precisely the kind of mobile lab that Secretary of State Colin Powell described in his speech to the United Nations earlier this year. U.S. and U.K. experts concluded the facility does not appear to have any function "beyond production of biological weapons."

Saddam Hussein admitted to possessing WMD in the past but never accounted for what happened to them and refused to provide any evidence of their destruction. Many critics of the Bush administration had endless patience for UN inspectors trying to find WMD facilities in a country the size of California. We should now be patient as coalition forces continue to search for these weapons.

Please know I will share your concerns with my colleagues and will remember your thoughts on this issue should it come before me in the Congress. Again, thank you for contacting me. Your thoughts and comments are always welcome.

Spyware: ads that snoop

The Wall Street Journal looks at spyware: A New Battleground In Web Privacy War -- Ads That Can Snoop. For non-subscribers, the article is available here.